With about 15 days left until this tournament kicks off, NOW'S the time to get somewhat interested in the forthcoming weeks of footballing action. And with that; World Cup Willie returns as an establishment, and a benchmark for footballing coverage. And that coverage begins now. I'm gonna preview Group A for you. For those who haven't been paying attention, Group A consists of Russia, Greece, Poland and the Czech Republic. Let us commence.
Russia
Undeniably the best side in an insanely poor Group A, Russia, who have a history in this competition, having won it in 1960, and finished as runner up on 3 separate occasions (albeit as the Soviet Union), will be looking to capitalize on their recent resurgence by getting somewhere this year. In 2008, Russia made the semi-finals, losing to Spain 3-0, and failed to push on into the 2010 World Cup.
Russia have a decent squad of players, most notably Pavel Pogrebnyak, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin, all of which have plied their trade in the Premier League in recent years. Decent players, with the question lingering over them: "can they perform on the big stage?" Time will tell.
Group Prediction: 1st
Greece
Greece. Boring, boring Greece. They won the tournament in 2004, and that's all they've done. Ever. Seriously. Bottled the Confederations Cup in 2005, didn't qualify for the World Cup in 2006, and finished bottom of their group in Euro 2008. That's...pretty bad....
Big names in the Greek side include Premier League legend Giorgos Samaras and Football Manager favourite Sotiris Ninis (seriously, snap him up, you'll get one hell of a player). To be fair to the Greeks, they DID win their qualifying group, and they WERE unbeaten...maybe they'll spring a surprise. Again. I doubt it, but maybe...
Group Prediction: 3rd
Poland
Much like group-mates Greece, Poland have very little history in this competition. Unlike Greece, they've only ever been involved in one European Championship, and that was in 2008. Where they picked up a single point. Against Austria. They really aren't a footballing nation per se, more a nation who knows football exists. And sometimes play it.
There are some decent players involved with Poland. Robert Lewandowski (currently of Borussia Dortmund, linked with Manchester United) and Wocjiech Szczesny are the notable names in this side, but there just isn't enough talent across the pitch for them to seriously worry Russia or the Czechs. Aim for a point against Greece, and that will be a success. Poor tournament for the co-hosts.
Group Prediction: 4th
Czech Republic
The final side involved in this group are the Czech Republic. They finished as runner up in 1996, made the semi finals in 2004. TECHNICALLY they've won it before, but as Czechoslovakia (1976), so does that count? How do they and Slovakia go about sharing the trophy? I assume they only get it for weekends and bank holidays or something.
Petr Cech, Milan Baros and Tomas Rosicky are the players you'll know about in this side. We all know how good Cech is (even if he does seem to bottle in for his country), Rosicky is an Arsenal regular, and Baros...played for...Portsmouth?
For me it's a straight shoot for second between these and Greece, so the game on the second match day could be very interesting. Or very boring. Can't see past the Czechs, though.
Group Prediction: 2nd
FINAL STANDINGS
GP W D L P
Russia 3 3 0 0 9
Czech Republic 3 2 0 1 6
Greece 3 1 0 2 3
Poland 3 0 0 3 0
I'll do a Group B preview tomorrow. I'd imagine it'll be a bit better than this one. Still getting back into the swing of things.
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